My Life In Fandom: "The Last Church", A Full 40K Fan Film

This is a Warhammer 40K fan film. It focuses on an incident in the last year or so before the Emperor completed his conquest of Earth and began unifying Terran Man under his rule. Remember that, officially, the Emperor is a militant atheist. He is also a super-powered godlike being. If one were to regard this story and its perspective, it would be as Imperial propaganda that had long ago fallen out of favor due to the rise of the worship of the Emperor.

I do not know anything about the creator.

I do know a subtlety when I see it. This? This is a very subtle commentary on the need for Man to worship. If they do not worship God, then they will worship some idol in God's place- including ideas.

There is another observation here, and since I have sweet fuck-all to lose I'll state it plainly: The Emperor is the Anti-Christ.

Here is a god-like being. He wields power far surpassing what Man can achieve on his own. He is apparently immortal--remember, this is before Horus struck him down and forced his confinement to the Golden Throne--and apparently has no known mortal father. Yet he denies that God even exists, and actively crushes all religions when encountered. He takes those men that pledge themselves to him, and he reshapes their fleshy forms into unstable giants wielding armor and weapons that are massive destructive.

Those that do not submit willingly to him, he exterminates. Those he conquers find their myths, their cultures, ground into dust and with it their identities as a people. They are, instead, subsumed into the Imperial Way and made Imperial subjects. Once the Thunder Warriors are purged and replaced with the Astartes Legions, the women of these conquered peoples willingly yield their sons to him so they may gain favor- a practice encouraged to the present time of the 42nd Millenium.

The state he creates has only the appearance of glory and prosperity, gilding a cage of slavery by various guises to the galactic empire he created to sustain his vision of Man Without God- Man under his eternal rule. Complete with occassional outbreaks of violence to justify continued repression and oppression, and a totally fixed Big War to ensure that such justifications keep happening.

Games Workshop didn't intend this. Not in the 1980s. Not now. Not ever. Nonetheless, they creates a terrific and compelling vision of the future under the Anti-Christ. Yet they sanctioned this story, if not this specific film adaptation, so this is in the game's canon of lore. You love to see it when the enemy scores an own-goal.

If I were sufficiently skilled AND ambitious, I'd write the story of a successful authentic overthrow. How? By telling the story of the Second Coming, completing what GW unwittingly began.